Wasteful Writing?

This week found me busy revising two things: A novelette and a short story. The short story ended up taking all week for me to revise, because it ended up being a lot longer than the first draft. It also ended up being something entirely different than the first draft! Part of the revision process was to do research on my story’s main symbol, which is a tree. My research helped me to “flesh out” the story and have everything happening with that tree make sense.

 

The novelette I revised also ended up being a lot longer than its first draft. There were times during the revision process when I couldn’t figure things out. When this happens, I usually step away from the writing and do other things while I try to figure that out. In this case, I went on a drive with my son. At one stop, I was suddenly inspired, so I whipped out my phone and started writing in the Notes app. After we got home, I transferred what I wrote to the story file, but I noticed that what I’d written could be better. I fixed it up and was satisfied with it enough to move on.

 

In both cases, I started to wonder: Was the time I spent writing those first drafts wasted? And did I waste my efforts in writing something that ended up being terrible?

 

In both cases, I believe the answer is no.

 

If you want to write something, you have to start somewhere – even if it’s a first draft that will ultimately never see the light of day. (How many first drafts actually get published?) Also, it’s important to write anything you feel could be USEFUL to your WIP, even if you feel the writing sucks.

 

The point is to write. Plant the seeds of your idea by getting it down onto paper, then “water” it by revising it so that it can grow into something wonderful. Something you can be proud of.

 

Even if you don’t use something you wrote in your final draft, it’s still something that helped you to keep your focus on the work at hand and stay connected to your writing process. Any writing is better than no writing at all, and it is definitely not a waste of time if you manage to get the words onto the page instead of keeping them in your head.

 

And while I’m on the subject of writing, here is a quote from the August 23, 2024 issue of C. Hope Clark’s newsletter, FundsforWriters: “As writers, we are an endless supply of words. Each line we write improves us. And the more we have to practice at our craft, the better we get.”